{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O199074"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O199074/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AX6901/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AX6901/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AX6901","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX6966","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX6882","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KX0566","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O199074/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O199074","accessionNumber":"A.4-1958","objectType":"Statue","titles":[{"title":"The Fall of Phaeton","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"In his narrative mythological poem <u>The Metamorphoses</u>, the Roman poet Ovid describes how Phaeton ascended into heaven, the home of his suspected father the Sun (aka Phoebus or Helios). Helios swore by the river Styx to give Phaeton anything he should ask for in order to prove his divine paternity. In response, Phaeton asked to drive his father's chariot (the sun) for a day. Helios tried to talk him out of it, but Phaeton was adamant. When the day came, Phaeton was unable to control the fierce horses that drew the chariot. He got so close to the Earth that it was scorched. Zeus (Jupiter) intervened and struck Phaeton off the chariot with a thunderbolt. Phaeton fell to the ground.\r\n\r\nIt is this dramatic moment that Lefèvre has chosen to depict, with Phaeton falling headfirst, his body arching up and backwards. The composition is derived from a known Roman sarcophagus depicting the same subject. Showing a single figure in an extreme pose was a convention for 'morceaux de reception' or 'reception pieces' demanded of artists before they were allowed to become members of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy) and so be able to receive royal commissions, so this may have been a similar academic exercise. Certainly we know that Lefèvre was active between 1698 and 1709 working for the King, Louis XIV, producing sculpture for the gardens at Trianon, the park at Marly, and the chapel at Versailles.","physicalDescription":"This marble group represents Phaeton at the moment when he has just been hurled by Jupiter's thunderbolt from the chariot of the sun. He has fallen headfirst and his arms are outstretched either side of his head. His body is arched upwards and backwards, clad only in some drapery over his left leg which is bent and stretches out to one side. His bent right knee is the highest point of the composition. The chariot, behind and under him, is shown entering the clouds that are strewn with stars and with the signs of the Zodiac.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lefevre, Dominique","id":"A24900"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved white marble","categories":[{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AX6901","2006AX6966","2006AX6882","2018KX0566"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"5","id":"THES49787"},"free":"","case":"PL4","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statue","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1700 - ca. 1711","earliest":"1695-01-01","latest":"1715-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"54.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"85.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"41.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'A DOMINIQUO LE FEBURE GANDAVII IN FLANDRIA NATO ET INVENTUM ET SCULPTUM'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed beneath base"}],"objectHistory":"Signed pieces by Dominique Lefèvre are extremely rare and this is a very accomplished work by a little-known sculptor.","historicalContext":"Lefèvre was active between 1698 and 1709 working for the King, Louis XIV, producing sculpture for the gardens at Trianon, the park at Marly, and the chapel at Versailles.","briefDescription":"Statue, marble, the Fall of Phaeton, by Dominique Lefevre, France, ca. 1700 - 1711","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Micio, Paul <u>L'orfevrerie religieuse de Louis XIV et les sculptures murales de la Chapelle royale de Versailles</u> in <u>Versalia, Revue de...Versailles</u> No 12, 2009, pp151-178; Lefevre panel (The Baptism) illus p.160"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Souchal, F. <u>French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries</u>, Vol. II, 1981, pp. 224-228"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Levey, M. <u>Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789</u>, New Haven, 1993, p. 301, note 27"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Baker, Malcolm, <u>Figured in Marble. The Making and Viewing of Eighteenth-Century Sculpture</u>, London, 2000, p. 30, fig. 17"},{"reference":{"text":"Atterbury, Paul, <i>Heavenly Bodies: Sculptural Responses to the Human Form</i>, Burghley House, Stamford, 2006","id":"AUTH353372"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Phaeton","id":"N234"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["In the version of the myth told by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, Phaeton ascends into heaven, the home of his suspected father the Sun, aka Phoebus or Helios. His mother Clymene, had boasted that his father was the sun-god Helios. Phaeton went to his father the Sun, who swore by the river Styx to give Phaeton anything he should ask for in order to prove his divine paternity. Phaeton wanted to drive his chariot (the sun) for a day. Though Helios tried to talk him out of it, Phaeton was adamant. When the day came, Phaeton was unable to control the fierce horses that drew the chariot. Eventually Zeus (Jupiter) intervened and struck Phaeton off the chariot with a thunderbolt. Phaeton fell to the ground."],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.4-1958"],"accessionNumberNum":"4","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1958,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN9645","2019LU5271","2019LW6442"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-03-11","availableToBook":false}}